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Metal thieves have stripped thousands of pounds worth of lead from the roof of a life-saving charity’s historic building.

Members and supporters of Cullercoats RNLI have been left furious after the lifeboat crew’s boathouse was targeted.

The roof raiders struck between Friday and Sunday last week.

It is believed they took advantage of the fact that the station’s landmark bell tower is currently surrounded by scaffolding as the charity explores the possibility of restoring the structure to its former glory.

And today as police continue to hunt the crooks lifeboat volunteers have told the Chronicle of their sadness.

Michael Scott said: “People fund-raise for us and donate in good faith and for all that good work to be taken away by reckless thieves is very frustrating, not just for us but for the public. The whole crew is angry and frustrated.”

Ben Bradshaw and Graham Wood of the RNLI Lifeboat station in Cullercoats

Michael explained that Cullercoats RNLI is currently looking into the possibility of repairing its bell tower, which is part of a listed building, so that it can be used again.

And scaffolding was in place while the charity got quotes for the work.

“We are trying to get the bell tower restored because it’s not been functioning for a while and we have had some builders here and scaffolding up,” he said.

Michael believes opportunist thieves must have noticed the scaffolding and realised they could easily climb onto the building.

“We realised someone had broken into the security gates and helped themselves to a boat-load of lead,” he said. “They must have climbed-up the scaffolding.

“I think we are talking about thousands of pounds, not hundreds. They have obviously just taken advantage. It’s obviously an opportunist theft. Somebody has walked past the scaffolding thinking it’s an easy target, It could be someone local or a visitor. The scaffolding is very visible from the promenade.”

The lead roof of the RNLI Lifeboat station in Cullercoats

As well as being disappointed that thieves chose the charity’s building to raid, crew members are also angry that their long-awaited restoration project has hit a set-back.

“There’s an amount of frustration in the station,” said Michael. “We have been trying for a while to get the bell tower restored, and it is frustrating that something like this had to happen now. We are hoping to make it a fully operational bell tower as it’s been out of service for a number of years now and we would like to get the bell ringing again when the boat goes out. It feels like we have taken three steps forward and two back. This is going to delay the work.”

Police are now appealing for witnesses to the theft, which is believed to have happened sometime between 8pm on Friday and 8am on Sunday.

Northumbria Police’s Neighbourhood Insp for the area, Neil Armsworth, said: “We’re asking for help from the community to find those responsible for this theft. The RNLI are a charity who rely on volunteers giving up their time to help others and donations of cash from the public in order to carry out their work which saves lives at sea here in North Tyneside. It’s really disappointing that thieves would target a charity in this way. If anyone has information about this theft and knows who is responsible then I’d ask them to call the police.”